­Russian markets closed slightly lower on Wednesday amid lower trade at the US floors. The MICEX shed 0.21% and the RTS lost 0.12%. Metallurgy shares were among gainers as NLMK added 1.04%, Severstal added 1.01% and Polymetal gained 0.94%.

US stocks fell Wednesday, losing the gains of a previous day, as investors were disappointed by weaker results of IBM Corp. and Intel Corp. The Dow Jones fell 0.6%, while the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite both slipped 0.4%.

European markets dropped on Wednesday after Spanish banks slid on news of a sharp rise in bad loans. The Bank of Spain announced the ratio of bad loans for the sector reached a 17-year high in February of 8.2%.

The Stoxx Europe 600 fell 0.7% as the Spanish IBEX 35 tumbled 4% to a three-year low. The French CAC 40 fell 1.6%, while Germany’s DAX 30 lost 1% weighed down by Siemens’ share performance.

Spain's 10-year bond auction will take place later on Thursday. On Monday the yield on the country's 10-year bond was above 6 %, but fell to more manageable levels just below that mark.